Manchester City stars Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias spoke furtively following their international clash – just days after the club’s guilty verdict in their battle against the Premier League.
Dias covered his mouth while Haaland shook his head in the aftermath of Portugal’s Nations League win over Norway on Sunday night.
There is no way of ascertaining for sure what they were saying, but the club’s future will no doubt be on players’ minds after Friday’s titanic news.
Dias obscures what he is saying, but also smiles at one stage, while Haaland uses two fingers to make a quotation gesture.
Man City have been found guilty of 114 out of 115 charges of breaking the Premier League’s financial regulations, Daily Mail Sport understands. Potential punishments could include a fine, points deductions, being stripped of their titles, or even relegation.
Manchester City’s squad will only get the chance to talk about it together in earnest next week when they return from the international break, with their next fixture coming at Liverpool on October 11.
Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias were locked in conversation after the Norway-Portugal clash
Dias covered his mouth while Haaland made a quotation gesture as they caught up
Manchester City have been found guilty of the vast majority of their 115 Premier League rule-break charges
Haaland had been scheduled to speak in a press conference ahead of the Portugal clash but was reportedly removed from that duty.
The striker has previously spoken on City’s situation, though. After signing in 2022, he was asked if he had considered the investigation looming over City, to which he replied: ‘No, I haven’t thought of that or anything.
‘I am confident that the club know what they are doing and I really don’t think I should speak too much about this.’
We are yet to hear the thoughts of City’s players on the topic but their former midfielder Rodri did say ahead of Spain’s 3-2 victory over England at Wembley: ‘They [Man City] always express the confidence that they never did something wrong and we believe in that.
‘Until the moment they are proved wrong, we will believe the club. They always tell us the confidence they have on the innocence.’
City have publicly maintained their innocence throughout the process, with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak saying last week: ‘Our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began.’
It is inevitable that they will appeal the reported verdict.
Man City were charged in February 2023 by the Premier League with a hearing concluding in December 2024.
Their statement that February insisted that they were ‘surprised’ by the charges.
The verdict could lead to a variety of punishments including huge points deductions, financial penalties, and even relegation
The charges stretch from the years 2009 to 2023, encompassing much of the Pep Guardiola era, though the most serious end at 2018
The Premier League accused Man City of multiple breaches of financial rules and of failing to co-operate with a subsequent investigation. The alleged rule breaking was claimed to have taken place over a 14-year period.
A three-man panel was tasked with considering the evidence, with the initial expectation a verdict would have been reached on the case within months. It has since taken three-and-a-half years.
The original 115 charges were extended to a total of 130 after an administration issue in what is the most expensive and wide-ranging case in English football history.
City remained steadfast in maintaining their innocence over more than 115 alleged breaches across eight years, some including the start of the Pep Guardiola era.
The club were accused of failing to report accurate financial information for nine seasons stretching from 2009-10 to 2017-18, as well as failing to provide full details of former manager Roberto Mancini’s pay between 2009-10 and 2012-13.
They were also alleged to have failed to provide full details of money paid to players between 2010-11 and 2015-16 and failing to co-operate with the probe from 2018 to 2023.
Between the years mentioned, Manchester City won eight Premier League titles, a Champions League, four FA Cups and seven EFL Cups.
In 2022, Guardiola said he would quit the club if he felt the club’s hierarchy had ever lied to him. The next year, he said he would not walk out on his deal, even if he was relegated to League One.
The club have maintained that they are innocent throughout the process and are expected to appeal
Guardiola always insisted he was ‘fully convinced’ that the club is innocent and said in May: ‘I trust them, I trust them. Because I spoke with them and I trust how they behave and how they did.’
City vehemently denied any breaches of financial rules but the investigation started in December 2018 after German website Der Spiegel published documents from a Football Leaks cache which had originated from Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto
It alleged that City had overstated sponsorship income with money paid from the club’s owners instead of sponsors linked to Abu Dhabi.
Roberto Mancini’s wages were said to have doubled via a secret contract with an Abu Dhabi club when he was at Man City, while they were also alleged to have broken rules over approaching young players.
The Mail on Sunday has led the way on reporting the story. In July 2021, they reported on emails that appeared to suggest that Man City had millions funnelled into the club by Abu Dhabi to help inflate their income.
Back in February 2020, the club were banned from the Champions League and fined £25million after they were found to have seriously misled European footballing governing body UEFA and broken financial fair play rules.
This was then lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport which also reduced the club’s fine to £9m.
City spent £440million over the summer, equalling the British transfer record by signing Enzo Fernandez for £125million.
Staff at the City Football Academy learned of the news via Daily Mail Sport and other media reports. There was no official email, with some initially left fearing for their jobs and asking senior managers for an explanation.
‘It felt like the club was completely blindsided,’ one employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told this newspaper.
